ALFRED T. SCHOFIELD^ M.D.^ ON CHRISTIAN SANITY. 13 



Official recognition has long been sought for this large army 

 of sufferers as " borderland cases between sanity and insanity, 

 but so far in vain. Personally I have nothing officially to do 

 with insanity, but am constantly struck with the difficulty of 

 defining such doubtful cases. 



It would almost seem that a really perfect mental equipoise is 

 confined to but few, and that sanity in its last analysis is really a 

 question of the degree rather than the mere fact of deflection from 

 the normal. What is perhaps still more remarkable is that the per- 

 fectly balanced mind is by no means always the one of the greatest 

 value to its owner or to his country ; but that, on the contrary, 

 some slight mental bias or obsession often leads to brilliancy 

 and victory, and indeed may constitute a driving force to success- 

 ful effort. Faddists often do more than arm-chair philosophers. 

 This is well illustrated on the bowling green, where the bias of the 

 ball is the secret of victory. But if slight inequality of the scales 

 does not amount to insanity, still less does violent oscillation, 

 however alarming, provided the position of rest is equilibrium. 

 One often hears the statement " He is perfectly mad made of 

 the most sane individuals. It merely means the man is so sure 

 of his equipoise, like an aviator or tight-rope performer, that 

 he can indulge in the most alarming " loops or oscillations with 

 perfect impunity. It is for this reason that the opposite condi- 

 tion of the idee fixe is such a well-known sign of mental disease. 



So far from consisting of movements or oscillations, it is that 

 persistent quiet depression of one side of the balance that is 

 really the expression of actual loss of sanity. It is to be further 

 noticed that while the violent movements I have described are 

 all conscious and voluntary, this idee fixe or loss of equilibrium is 

 generally unconscious and always involuntary. 



It may be remarked here that humour is very closely connected 

 with sanity. No insane person really possesses it, and few who 

 do, become insane. I may also observe that although a person 

 may be insane in thought, legal insanity mast be shown by mad 

 actions. 



Returning to our immediate subject, we find that it is still 

 further complicated in that it is not " Sanity " but Christian 

 Sanity." We have therefore to study the effects of an influx of 

 a great spiritual force on the mind of man that tends to disturb 

 the pre-existing balance. The fresh power and energy, the 

 changed standpoint of view, and the entire recasting of values, 

 to say nothing of the new and powerful contact with great 



